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Google TV Details Revealed
Today Google provided new information about their upcoming Google TV platform for set-top boxes. Using a video and a demonstration site, they show how apps will look and function, and stressed that users wouldn't be limited in their ability to browse the web on their TV. Google also announced content partners, which include Turner Broadcasting, NBC Universal, HBO, Netflix and Amazon Video. "We have also been working with some leading technology and media companies to optimize their content for Google TV, including news sites like The New York Times and USA Today; music sites like VEVO, Pandora and Napster; information networks like Twitter; and online networks like blip.tv. And with YouTube Leanback, we can offer the best experience for you to watch your favorite viral videos and personalized channels on the television." For developers, they put up a guide to optimize websites for Google TV.
You: Put the kids to bed and make some popcorn. It's viral video night!
Spouse: Great, I just love watching my favorite viral videos!
You: Me too!
Spouse: I love you honey.
Yeah yeah, I know this will do a lot more than be a TV based browser.
So . . . basically you admit that your premise is wrong and was just an opportunity to throw out a lame joke.
Good to know.
The same wisecracks come out every time a new device comes out. They always point to some failed device in the past and laugh, never realizing that the first device of a particular type is almost never the one that becomes the commercial success. For nearly any successful product there is a long string of failures ahead of it that "did the same thing".
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
That's all i really want, my Roku box with the added ability to stream video from my box o' hard drives to my TV. The Roku box is cheap, small, low power drain, silent and can handle new content when they add additional channels such as amazon. Its one shortcoming for me has been that I can't use it to access media that's NOT on the internet.
give me this and i'll buy one for every room with a TV.
Or is it just DishTV users? Because otherwise how is it different from my old desktop running Boxee? :\
Look, I'm usually an unabashed Google fanboy, and even I think this is silly.
It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
1970 called. They want their joke back.
Reminds me of the Sega TV. Downloading video games right to your console? Crazy talk. That failed.
Then, XBox Marketplace, it's common.
Or Dreamcast with it's built in modem...
etc etc etc
http://use.perl.org
1880 telegraphed. They want their meme updated, but they have no tech support back there.
The "views" count associated with the youtube video linked in this news is stuck at 327!!
550 BC mailed. The Persians apologize for delivering this joke.
Though I like to think that I'm very, very different in my viewing preferences than the millions of other folks in the country, this is probably not the case.
My favorite genre is science fiction and fantasy, some documentaries, occasional thrillers. Bonus if it's a sci-fi/fantasy thriller.
I got rid of my cable feed because I found that I was only watching a couple channels -- Discovery and Sci-Fi. My daughter watched Disney on occasion but I would pay not to have Zack and Cody's voice ever heard in my household again.
I want to watch Doctor Who, but it's not available. So I catch it on Netflix instant. I wanted to catch Dual Survival and the new Les Stroud series, but it's on at either Monday or Friday but I can't tell because it's switched around all the time. And on Fridays, believe it or not, I'm usually at the movies for my weekly movie night with the family (this week it will be Let Me In). I wanted to catch True Blood because I heard it's great. Alas, to get HBO requires that I get some Premiere package which would cost another $30/month and even then I'm not about to make a television show dictate when I'm home.
I get the distinct feeling that the networks are actively trying to make viewing television a painful experience.
Anyhoo, I'm hoping that Google TV will provide on-demand, current shows. I think viewership will skyrocket if viewers can determine where and when they want to watch a movie. Heck, the ability to choose a target demographic for advertising purposes should make the network execs salivate.
Choices now are:
Netflix instant, but their selection is pretty atrocious.
AppleTV - but it's more expensive than I am willing to pay
Miro - content is of varying quality
torrents - great content, great price, great picture quality, not legal and risk of malware sites
I'm still exclusively interested in finding out what video formats are available. I have an extensive library of h.264 encoded movies for Apple TV. I don't want to buy or stream movies from these services on my sad internet connection, I want to properly enjoy what I already have. And I'm tired of converting movies.
Oh, and how metadata for my videos will be handled. MetaX for tagging in my iTunes library and Boxee's backwards method both work. What does Google do?
Whale
I hope they release an API so it can be integrated into MythTV. Get the best of both without having to change devices.
So, what are we going to do tonight, brain? Same thing we do every night, Pinky...
I *know*!
The perfect example of this is how TV was actually invented in Russia in the twenties, but wasn't a big time commercial hit back then. The main reason being just a slight difference in operation compared to our later western TV:s: Instead of you watching the TV, the TV was watching you.
For so long we've longed for the use of vector graphics in websites because it reduces size so much. We finally have major browsers that fully support SVG. Flash also gives you vector graphics. Now the second to last suggestion... Avoid vector graphics. Use bitmapps because they're easier on the CPU.
Before all we worried about was load time. There was no 'processing' past the intial page load, or at least nothing substantial. Everyone was optimizing the hell out of their gif's and jpgs. Low bandwidth was our enemy. Now Vector images are bad, we have plenty of bandwidth, but ironically they're worried about a weak CPU...
So weird.
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
Former WebTV user here. I've always considered WebTV an idea before it's time. One of the big problems with it is that from 95-2000 the web grew in capability faster than the little black boxes did. And thanks to the plethora of mobile devices with non-x86 CPU's and lower resolution screens website developers and plugin makers are a little more willing to work with the makers to work with the makers of them. For example Macromedia didn't try very hard to keep WebTV's shockwave plugin up to date, but now with all sorts of Flash devices out there they have more incentive.
U also wonder if Google talked with Iacta (a company that created WebTV oriented websites and did consulting), since their guidelines are similar to Iacta's.
But.....Google TV doesn't do much that a PS3 already can't.
Wrong. Tech support for communications systems (including the telegraph) was invented in 1860: http://news.cnet.com/2300-1035_3-10004616.html?tag=mncol
Information network? Seriously? This must be a different Twitter that the one my kids use.
I don't know what your average person tweets about but there are some institutions worth following on Twitter (e.g. NASA).
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
Or Dreamcast with it's built in modem...
You mean "its".
So I can't use it as a DVR unless I am on Dish? It says it integrates with my existing cable box? What is it talking about there?
I think I'll stick to my TiVo if this is the case. TiVo paired up with pyTivo gives me everything I need and has for years.
load "linux",8,1
O'BRIEN, CUE THE TELESCREEN
It's "Two Minutes Hate", My Favourite Reality Series!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
For nearly any successful product there is a long string of failures ahead of it that "did the same thing".
True, but still the point remains that this device is quite poorly conceived, and the target audience is even less understood.
We all know there is not enough bandwidth for every person to be pulling TV across the internet. All of these have to stream on discrete IPs and you can't take advantage of multicast and still provide people with on-demand start times for every program in your video vault.
There is even less demand to browse the web while watching TV unless you live alone in your parents basement. Can you imagine trying to follow a football game with you S.O. surfing lol-cats and getting tweets every few seconds.
The concept of Google TV is foisting much of what is personal and private activities best destined for that device in your pocket to the Family TV set.
As such, it seems destined for singles or dorm rooms, and useless for families.
It seems like a failure to understand the lesson of the huge stereo systems we all abandoned as soon as we could don high quality earbuds, and have our collection in our pocket.
When everyone in the house has a personal iPad or Android Tablet, Google TV might make sense, but it will also be irrelevant, as the tablets themselves will do all of this.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
maybe it's because allowing someone to browse the web from their tv isn't particularly innovative, even back in 1995?
I don't want a web browser on my TV. I do want a way to ditch my cable TV and still get access to shows on demand. So far, at least, this doesn't get us any closer than Apple TV, Roku, Boxee or anyone else.
Hey folks, we can't afford to watch TV anymore. Seriously, think about what would have happened if Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, et al, spent their evenings vegging out to a boob tube. We've got some serious problems to solve! Global Warming, The end of fossil fuels, the looming threat of water shortages, population pressures.... Who's going to solve these problems if we're all catching up on The Amazing Race to Wast the most Time? Come on! If you can't do the chemical engineering, or nano-technology, you can at least help the kids get interested. How about improving education? Getting politically active? Raising public awareness? Not sure if the problems are real? Then put a bullet in your TV and go do some real research. Give yourself an education before you put on the apathy hat.
The house is on fire, are we just gonna sit around and watch it burn?
Google TV is an evil thing. Truly.
Google TV doesn't do much that a PS3 already can't.
In addition, how many remote controls can you use with a Google TV at one time? PS3 supports up to four controllers.
According to this article on Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/22/roku-xds-review/
Roku tells us it'll be adding additional support for DLNA streaming in the future, and with various DLNA-compatible devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Motorola Droid X, and LG Optimus Windows Phone 7 handset either out or on their way to market, it could present a solid alternative to Apple's AirPlay. We weren't able to test any DLNA features, though, since they're not currently available -- the potential is there, but Roku has to execute.
I wish for the same. The Roku is where it's at right now in terms of an internet TV set-top box. The Google TV could also be interesting, but let's wait to see it working and how much the set-top boxes are going to cost.
Hey, I like Google and everything, but this isn't very exciting. My HTPC has been doing these things (and more) for years. Perhaps I'd been just a little more interested if I could easily run this as a platform on my existing hardware.
Currently, I run a DVI + mini-jack to my TV and just use my computer. That's about $10 for the wires and the DVI goes about 30 feet. It might go more, I haven't tried, but at 30 feet I have no observable signal loss. Add in the possible cost of a second (or third) video card, and a TV box has to beat that to be worth it. Add in other $20-ish for a media remote for your computer.
The best part is it plays every single format with no start-up time (even a DVD takes a while to load, skip commercials, etc.).
Is 1.5 Mbps DSL enough to stream 720p H.264? I wouldn't be so sure because Blu-ray Disc allows bitrates over 30 times more than that.
>>>throw out a lame joke.
I thought it was rather funny myself. Loosen up. WebTV probably would have made it, but it was hampered by the ~440x480 resolution of the Composite analog TV set, and therefore could never display the full pages of the day (almost double that width). Today's televisions don't have that same limitation.
.
>>>never realizing that the first device of a particular type is almost never the one that becomes the commercial success
Yep. Like Betamax. Or video-records.
Or Commodore Amigas that could play music videos.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Open Source? From Sony and Logitech???
What gives?
I don't think they stream the TV, or the on-demand programming. That's probably still a function of the cable/satellite carrier and won't change. But now you can search everything, surf the web with flash, and...run a few apps. For a cost of several hundred dollars.
The only thing I really like is the searchable DVR/channel guide/content. Other than that, AppleTV already has it beat. Well, maybe except for the true multi-tasking ie actually watching & surfing at the same time.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Google Pizza? Google Beer? Google Babes? Google Porn? Google Space Station? ...
My sig is better than your sig.
David Spade called...he wants his only good joke back.
Oh yeah, he said to send you a DMCA takedown request too.
Wii Supporting Netflix is a little more significant though.
All of those grannies that have Wii's in their house because of the grandkids can now stream Netflix.
Spongebob and John Wayne are a little more significant that whatever it is that people watch on YouTube.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
But the real question is... will I be able to use Google TV to watch Hulu on my TV?
I already have a Tivo, so I already have a way to record live TV, access Netflix, watch Amazon VOD, YouTube, etc. And with pyTivo I can watch videos that I downloaded to my PC from the web. All that is missing is Hulu.
Does anyone have an official link to Google TV's support (or lack thereof) of streaming content off a local machine on my home network?
Correction: after trolling like a sociopath you have trouble using /. from your own IP.
The fix: stop trolling, and participate in the discussion like a rational human being - even if you have to fake it! ;)
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Parents today buy better laptops for their kids.
In my experience, working-class parents buy sub-$400 laptops for their kids. This means either a netbook or a used laptop. They probably won't be fast enough for gaming or high-definition H.264, but they're fast enough for LibreOffice (for homework) and Facebook.
nothing i said even implied everything made with flash is bad.
Thank you for clearing this up. I used Homestar Runner as an example with which enough readers would be familiar. I initially confused you with other Slashdot users who claim that everything they've seen that was made with Flash is crud and forget Theodore Sturgeon's revelation that 90 percent of everything is crud. So please allow me to rephrase:
How big would (insert Flash animations that are not bad) get if they were converted from SWF vector animation to H.264 compressed bitmaps? Your answer was "They would be huge". That's one reason why Google TV and several other devices support SWF: it can be far more bandwidth-efficient than its closest competitor.
If the primary problem is cabling, then why do people choose video-only appliances over an ION nettop PC such as the AspireRevo? They're both a box with a cable to connect to the back of a TV.
He just doesn't have any sense of humor (nor vision probably)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
The roku is just in america from a little tin pot company.
Google TV is for the world - with huge company and millions of dollars behind it - plus millions of Android developers just waiting to get their hands on it.
Its not about you. Its about everybody else.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
"But.....Google TV doesn't do much that a PS3 already can't."
It does 500% more than a PS3 - the PS3 can't show most sites because it uses and outdated version of flash - on GTV they just need to update the application which runs in. Its hardware isn't good enough for Sony to upgrade it to have google tv on it either for one.
You can't run any programs on the PS3 you are stuck with the crap they give you (yeah, you can buy games, but that's for kids).
Anybody can make android programs and run on GTV.
Google demonstrated an app which could take the closed caption subtitles, run them through translate and put them back over the picture - in real time.
There is an app that lets you "sling" information from the phone to the tv - you have a link open on the android phone browser - "throw" it to the TV the devices registers the movement and displays the link.
Speak a search query into the phone, and have the tv search for it.
There is a huge amount of Android programmers out there, there are selling millions of phones every month, a lot of the buyers are programmers because they know they can improve the device if they want.
Apart from all the commercial interests who might be willing to jump on to make a buck, the army of programmers are going to add anything they see missing.
You want nothing on your screen - you got that, but you want something - you got that too, from facebook updates, to farmville to stock tickers.
Grandma wants to see home movies of the kids? Upload it to youtube and bookmark the link on her tv - all she has to do is select the link called "grandkids".
This is not for the nerd (or kid) who says "i can just plug my computer into the tv" this is for the rest.
Oh, and most of the android market apps already work - want a bit torrent client running on your TV? No? Well don't then ;)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
..due to The Event?
How do vector graphics reduce space?
Vectors can be interpolated from frame to frame in an animation far more efficiently than even the motion compensation in H.264 or VP8. They can also be scaled to 1920x1080 pixels without loss of sharpness. They can save space by looping elements.
GIFs and JPGS can be squeezed to just a few K.
Not when animated. Compare motion JPEG, a codec that represents each frame as a JPEG image, to MPEG-1, a codec that represents keyframes as essentially JPEG images and all other frames as the difference between frames, including commands to move blocks of pixels. The motion compensation techniques of more advanced video codecs improve this even further.
I presume you mean Sega Channel? There was a way to download games to your 2600 over 10 years before that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameLine
Though WebTV actually came out in late 1996, and I'd say that browsing the web from one's TV was innovative in 1995, as Mosaic came out in 1993.
My Samsung BD-C5500 Blu-Ray player can do all this. It plays Netflix, Blockbuster, YouTube, a host of other sites. It can play media from any DLNA media server in my house, which my little wireless router seems to do perfectly. It can play DivX, MKV, XVid, nearly anything.
Oh, and did I mention it is also a BluRay player?
Oh and it cost me exactly $130.
And this is far from the only BluRay player with capabilities like this.
Boxee and Apple TV et. al. have missed the boat, all the blu-ray players are coming with this stuff built in nowadays. Why should I buy another box that does the same thing as one I already own?